¹Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim , whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah .

²But neither he , nor his servants , nor the people of the land, listened to the LORD ’s words , which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah .

³Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah , the priest , to the prophet Jeremiah , saying, “Pray now to the LORD our God for us .”

⁴Now Jeremiah came in and went out amongst the people , for they had not put him into prison .

⁵Pharaoh ’s army had come out of Egypt ; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them , they withdrew from Jerusalem .

⁶Then the LORD ’s word came to the prophet Jeremiah , saying ,

⁷“The LORD , the God of Israel , says , ‘You shall tell the king of Judah , who sent you to me to enquire of me : “Behold , Pharaoh ’s army , which has come out to help you , will return to Egypt into their own land.

⁸The Chaldeans will come again , and fight against this city . They will take it and burn it with fire.”’

⁹“The LORD says , ‘Don’t deceive yourselves , saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us ;” for they will not depart .

¹⁰For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you , and only wounded men remained amongst them , they would each rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.’”

¹¹When the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh ’s army ,

¹²then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin , to receive his portion there , in the middle of the people .

¹³When he was in Benjamin ’s gate , a captain of the guard was there , whose name was Irijah , the son of Shelemiah , the son of Hananiah ; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet , saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans !”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah said , “That is false ! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans .”

But he didn’t listen to him ; so Irijah seized Jeremiah , and brought him to the princes .

¹⁵The princes were angry with Jeremiah , and struck him , and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe ; for they had made that the prison .

¹⁶When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days ,

¹⁷then Zedekiah the king sent and had him brought out . The king asked him secretly in his house , “Is there any word from the LORD ?”

Jeremiah said , “There is .” He also said , “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah , “How have I sinned against you , against your servants , or against this people , that you have put me in prison ?

¹⁹Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you , saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you , nor against this land’?

²⁰Now please hear , my lord the king : please let my supplication be presented before you , that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe , lest I die there .”

²¹Then Zedekiah the king commanded , and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard . They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street , until all the bread in the city was gone . Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard .